Turtle egg trade is alive and well in Juchitán, Oaxaca, where officials turn blind eye

Turtle eggs are bought and sold openly and without threat of prosecution

Published on Tuesday, August 13, 2019

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Despite a federal ban on the hunting, sale and consumption of sea turtle eggs and meat, the longstanding practice is still tolerated in Juchitán de Zaragoza, located in Oaxaca’s Isthmus of Tehuantepec region.

Vendors sell the eggs by the bag, either fresh or sun-dried, alongside more customary marine fare like fresh red snapper and bright blue crabs.

The ban, which went into effect in 1990, is strictly
enforced elsewhere in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec and Oaxaca’s Pacific coast.
However, the inhabitants of Juchitán have refused to give up eating turtle
eggs, and authorities have come to turn a blind eye to it as long as the
commerce stays local.

“Since consumption in Juchitán isn’t large-scale, it’s
de facto permitted in town,” said Sara, a local resident who consumes turtle
eggs in her home, and preferred not to give her last name. “But outside the
city limits, the law is enforced, and if they catch people trafficking turtle
eggs, they will arrest them.”

Mexico’s federal penal code imposes a penalty of up to nine years in prison, as well as a fine of up to 300,000 pesos (US $15,300) for the illicit trafficking of sea turtle eggs and/or meat.

Eggs are served with some Salsa Valentina . . .

Six of the world’s seven sea turtle species come
ashore in Oaxaca to lay their eggs, most notably the olive ridley sea turtle. The
beaches at La Escobilla, Barra de la Cruz and Morro Ayuta are some of the world’s
most important nesting sites for many turtle species.

The olive ridley and other species were classified as
endangered in the 1970s, but commercial fishing for sea turtles and harvesting
of their eggs in the mid-20th century drastically reduced their arrivals on the
beaches of Oaxaca. In the 1980s, the number of nests on Oaxacan beaches fell to
as low as 120,000 per season.

Even though the turtles continue to thrive in spite of
the localized consumption in Juchitán, conservationists still denounce the
practice.

“Unfortunately, there are still cases of turtle egg
consumption here in Oaxaca. It’s part of a very old tradition,” said Marcela
Chacón, director of the Mexican Turtle Center in Mazunte, Oaxaca, which works
to conserve the turtles’ nesting sites along with the National Protected Areas
Commission (Conanp), the environmental protection agency (Profepa), and local
communities.

“I don’t agree with the tolerance of it in Juchitán. It’s an environmental crime and the federal government is working to regulate those illicit practices.”

. . . and some lime juice.

For Juchitán’s fishermen and seafood vendors, however,
it is a matter of putting food on the table.

“We don’t earn much selling turtle eggs, just enough to get by,” said one egg vendor in the wholesale seafood market who preferred to remain anonymous.

“I agree that we should conserve sea turtles, but the fishermen have to support their families, so if they bring them to us, who are we to refuse to support them?”

In addition to providing for families, it is also an
integral part of the proud culture by which the residents of Juchitán have come
to identify themselves.

“The eggs are prepared either boiled or sun-dried, and served on crispy tortillas called totopos,” said the anonymous vendor. “Each has a different flavor, and both are delicious.”

“It bothers us that the government tells us not to buy or sell turtle eggs,” she went on to say.

A bag of sea turtle eggs at the market in Juchitán.

Despite their refusal to fully comply with the federal
ban, the people of Juchitán have adapted their tastes and culture in order to
partially conform to conservation practices, allowing both the turtles and
their traditions to survive.

“These days, when the local fishermen see a turtle in the water, they don’t take it. They let it go on its way,” the vendor said.

“They know that the turtles are an endangered species and that they need to be protected, so they don’t fish for them. We only eat the eggs.”

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